Job 24:1-7

1 “Why does the Almighty not set times for judgment? Why must those who know him look in vain for such days?
2 There are those who move boundary stones; they pasture flocks they have stolen.
3 They drive away the orphan’s donkey and take the widow’s ox in pledge.
4 They thrust the needy from the path and force all the poor of the land into hiding.
5 Like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go about their labor of foraging food; the wasteland provides food for their children.
6 They gather fodder in the fields and glean in the vineyards of the wicked.
7 Lacking clothes, they spend the night naked; they have nothing to cover themselves in the cold.

Job 24:1-7 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 24

This chapter contains the second part of Job's answer to the last discourse of Eliphaz, in which he shows that wicked men, those of the worst characters, prosper in the world, and go through it with impunity; he lays down this as a certain truth, that though no time is hid from God, yet they that are most familiar with him, and know most of him, do not see, and cannot observe, any days of his for judging and punishing wicked men in, this life, Job 24:1; and instances in men guilty of injustice, violence, oppression, cruelty, and inhumanity, to their neighbours, and yet God lays not folly to them, or charges them with sin, and punishes them for it, Job 24:2-12; and in persons that commit the most atrocious crimes in secret, such as murderers, adulterers, and thieves, Job 24:13-17; he allows that there is a curse upon their portion, and that the grave shall consume them, and they shall be remembered no more, Job 24:18-20; and because of their ill treatment of others, though they may be in safety and prosperity, and be exalted for a while, they shall be brought low and cut off by death, but generally speaking are not punished in this life, Job 24:21-24; and concludes with the greatest assurance of being in the right, and having truth on his side, Job 24:25.

Cross References 16

  • 1. S Job 14:5
  • 2. S Job 9:23; 2 Peter 3:7; Jeremiah 46:10
  • 3. S Job 15:20; Acts 1:7
  • 4. S Deuteronomy 19:14; Deuteronomy 27:17; Proverbs 23:10
  • 5. Exodus 20:15; Deuteronomy 28:31
  • 6. S Job 6:27; S Job 22:9; Dt 24:6,10,12,17; Job 22:6
  • 7. Job 29:16; Job 31:19
  • 8. Job 29:12; Job 30:25; Psalms 12:5; Psalms 41:1; Psalms 82:3,4; Isaiah 11:4
  • 9. S Job 20:19; S Proverbs 28:12; Proverbs 28:28
  • 10. S Genesis 16:12
  • 11. Psalms 104:23
  • 12. Job 30:3
  • 13. S Job 6:5
  • 14. ver 18
  • 15. Ruth 2:22; S 1 Kings 21:19
  • 16. S Exodus 22:27; Job 22:6
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